[ZT]在西欧旅行乘机、坐火车攻略

这是几个月前在LA Times看到的一篇关于在西欧旅行乘机、坐火车的攻略。对其中所涉及的细节及不同交通工具的比较印象深刻。先放上来，班长觉得不妥就删掉吧。

Tips for getting around western Europe by plane & by train

For pleasurable travel at reasonable prices, there are lessons to be learned on the Continent, where ease competes with economy. Bargain airlines hold surprises, and trains zoom between cities at up to 199 mph.

By Jane Engle, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 20, 2007

Cheap, fast transportation continues to be the talk of Europe, where dozens of budget airlines tout fares as low as $1 and trains blaze through 10 nations at 150 mph and more.

Planes cost less and get you there faster. Trains cost more and take longer. So it\'s clear that planes ace trains, right?

Wrong. Or at least partly.

To find out the best way to travel, I barnstormed through four countries in four days in August, pitting planes against trains on cost, speed and convenience. Along the way, I asked locals and tourists how they got around.

Starting in London, I flew to Brussels and returned on a train. Then I took the train from London to Paris and transferred to another train to get to Basel, Switzerland. Finally, I flew back from Basel to London.

From this, I evolved a rule of thumb for touring Europe: Use a train for short hops, a plane for longer trips (except between cities directly linked by high-speed rail) and a car to roam the countryside. The formula varies by your destination and budget, of course.

Impatient readers can disembark now. The rest of you may want to sit back and enjoy the ride. Because, as they say, it\'s all about the journey.

During my travels, I found out how extra costs can swell a bargain airfare 10 times over, when a fast train can be surprisingly slow and why you might have more fun on a no-frills flight in Europe than on a budget carrier in the U.S.

I learned a lot and slept little. Here\'s what happened:

THE COSTS OF FLYING CHEAP

My journey of 1,600 miles began with a single misstep: I fell for a $14 Web fare from London to Brussels on Dublin-based Ryanair, a 22-year-old pioneer of budget flying in Europe.

Book it, I told my travel agent.

Soon after, I got his e-mail: With taxes and fees, the fare totaled $73. Cha-ching!

The tab would continue to rise.

To make my 6:40 a.m. flight, I needed to be at Stansted Airport, a budget-airline hub 34 miles northeast of London, by 4:40 a.m., too early to catch the train, the quickest way there. (Some buses run 24 hours.) So I reserved a hotel room ($173) near the airport the night before. In London, I boarded the Stansted Express train ($31) at Liverpool Street station for a 45-minute ride to the airport, then took a shuttle to the hotel and, the next day, back out to the airport.

At bustling Stansted, Ryanair dinged me $20 to check my small bag. The fee is tough to avoid because, under Britain\'s security rules, even a purse or laptop counts as your one permitted carry-on.

Boarding Ryanair, as with Southwest Airlines, was a cattle call: no reserved seats. But in the air, what a difference.

Instead of peanuts, I was handed a 40-item menu for an hourlong flight. The cheery crew took orders, accepting cash or credit, for bottled water, fruit smoothies, French roast coffee, sandwiches, wine and even lottery tickets.

Prices, by European standards, weren\'t bad. When my savory $6 pizza arrived just before landing, the flight attendant apologized profusely. Then, as I deplaned, he patted my shoulder and said, Thanks a million.

I almost forgot I was flying a budget airline. But not for long.

It took more than two hours to get into Brussels from Brussels South Charleroi Airport, a utilitarian way station 37 miles south of the city, by bus ($15), the most direct transit.

The bus came every 45 minutes, and it filled up fast, leaving 20 people to wait for the next one. We shoved our luggage into the hold and, 40 minutes later, pulled up to Brussels Midi train station. Had we flown into Brussels\' main airport, Zaventem, nine miles northeast of the city, we could have arrived there in 20 minutes for $4 by train

Total travel time, London to Brussels: More than six hours. Total cost: $139, plus the hotel bill.

Lessons learned: Budget carriers aren\'t always bargains. Many fly into out-of-the way airports. Still, Europeans rave about them, with good reason, as I was to learn later.

KEEPIN\' IT RAIL

I began my afternoon train trip to London where I had ended my Ryanair odyssey: Brussels Midi station.

Eurostar, the high-speed train that darts through the Chunnel between England and the Continent, whisks you from city center to city center, eliminating airport transfers. You can check in up to 30 minutes before departure and take aboard two suitcases, plus hand luggage. Security screening, which is as stringent as it is for planes, was swift. The cafe car, although strictly stand-up, served decent salads, sandwiches and hot entrees.

My trip from Brussels Midi to central London totaled less than four hours, including wait time and two hours, 24 minutes on the train, and cost $149, my second-class fare. It was faster, easier and just $10 more than my Ryanair trip.

What\'s not to like? Well, last-minute Eurostar fares can soar above $200 each way, so book early. So-called club seats, facing each other across a table, were so cramped that to stretch my legs I had to squeeze them between a stranger\'s. (Europeans say you can request regular seats, which have decent legroom.) At one point, an electrical glitch killed the lights and briefly stalled us.

But oh, the ride! Even at its top speed, 186 mph, Eurostar glided along like a Mercedes sedan, with minimal side-to-side sway. Instead of clacking, it emitted a soft, musical hum that lulled some passengers to sleep.

Trackside, shapes dissolved into streaks of color. When I looked up, the pace slowed. City skylines, then clouds, cows and verdant countryside drifted by. Even gritty urban scenes offered fascination: glimpses of private backyards.

After zipping through most tunnels, the train took 20 minutes to transit the Chunnel. Soon after, it pulled into London\'s Waterloo station on time.

Starting Nov. 14, you\'ll arrive even earlier. That\'s when Eurostar plans to start operating out of its new St. Pancras International station in north-central London, using a high-speed track that will shave 20 minutes off times.

Lessons learned: Rail beats air for traveling between Brussels and London, an opinion shared by the nearly two-thirds of London-Brussels travelers who shun the plane for the train, according to Eurostar. (Even more, over 70%, take Eurostar between London and Paris.)

Of course, using major airports, as many carriers do, would help even the score, as would getting an affordable air connection tacked onto your ticket by a transatlantic airline.

PAYING FOR RELAXATION

High-speed trains don\'t always beat planes, as I learned by linking the Eurostar with France\'s TGV East to get from London to Basel, Switzerland\'s third-biggest city. And they can zip through your wallet. Even in second class, my rail journey cost $334, more than twice the price of flying back to London. (Not everyone pays this much. Fares vary by demand, and I booked just a week ahead.)

The trip totaled more than nine hours, about three hours more than flying, including wait times and transfers

I lagged even though I rode the TGV\'s newest line, touted as the world\'s fastest conventional train (steel wheels on steel track), based on a modified train set with oversized engine and wheels clocked at 357 mph in April.

In practice, the TGV East\'s top speed for commercial use is 199 mph. Because most of the track can\'t support this speed, it goes this fast for only an hour before slowing to 100 mph and less.

I lost time transferring from Paris\' Gare du Nord station, where the Eurostar ended, and the Gare de l\'Est, from where the TGV East departed. It\'s only a four-block walk, but I allowed a two-hour connection to be safe. One nasty surprise: I had to lug my bag down 50 stone stairs between stations.

Otherwise, my trip was idyllic. Without security or passport checks -- typically waived for train riders within the European Union -- I hopped the TGV just 15 minutes before it pulled out.

Sipping a Perrier in the cafe car, where I enjoyed a $16 three-course lunch consisting of a shredded carrot salad, croque-monsieur (a grilled ham and cheese sandwich) and strawberry-rhubarb compote, I felt very French as I surveyed passing pastoral postcards framed by big windows.

I couldn\'t sense any real difference between TGV East\'s 199 mph and Eurostar\'s 186 mph. But I still felt smug about riding one of the world\'s speediest trains.

Lessons learned: Fast trains aren\'t that fast for long trips. But they\'re relaxing (if you can forget the cost).

TAKING IT EASY

At last I got it: This is why Europeans love low-cost carriers.

After an evening mingling with merry crowds at a world culture festival in Basel that belied the sober image of this Swiss business and transport center, I headed out in the morning to catch my EasyJet flight back to London.

The 15-minute bus trip from the city to EuroAirport Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg was free, thanks to a transit pass that my no-frills EasyHotel, like many hotels in Basel, gives its guests.

EasyHotel and the 12-year-old airline are run by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, an entrepreneur who oversees a London-based empire of budget businesses. EasyJet flew more than 32 million passengers last year, about 10 million fewer than Ryanair.

At the airy, modern Basel airport, I sped through security. Boarding was chaotic, with a late gate change and no reserved seats. But all was forgiven in flight after I ordered a tasty low-fat chicken wrap ($7) from the huge menu and won $2 in the airline\'s lottery.

After arriving at the pleasant London Luton Airport, a burgeoning bazaar for low-cost carriers, I took a $16 shuttle bus for the 30-plus-mile trip into London. Even in light weekend traffic, it took more than an hour to get to Victoria Station in the heart of London.

Total travel time, Basel to London: 6 hours, 15 minutes, including a one-hour, 40-minute flight. Total cost: $143, including a $127 airfare.

Lessons learned: Budget carriers can be great when they fly into convenient airports. Get a map.

Even when it\'s all about the journey, you need to know where you\'re going.

相关链接（用图表对比乘机与坐火车的优缺点）：
Planning your Europe trip: Train or airplane?
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相关文章：

Americans should book Europe\'s discount airlines with caution
It\'s wise to be aware, and wary, of European carriers\' baggage policies, airports and changing routes.

By James Gilden, Special to The Los Angeles Times
January 21, 2007

One of the cheapest ways to get around Europe these days is aboard one of the growing number of low-fare airlines. A recent count by FlyCheapo.com (www.flycheapo.com), a website that helps travelers find low-fare airlines and the routes they serve, lists 47. Of those, I was familiar with only six and have flown on three — bmibaby, RyanAir and EasyJet.

And although bargains exist, they come with plenty of caveats for American travelers considering using them on their European travels.

For starters, not all airports are served by low-fare carriers. Many fly from smaller, out-of-the-way airports in major cities. For example, RyanAir and EasyJet do not fly from London\'s Heathrow Airport, but do fly from Gatwick, Stansted and Luton.

The carriers, for the most part, do not offer connecting service, so bags must be picked up and rechecked if you are making a stop on the way to your final destination. And for destinations off the well-trod path, there may be no service at all.

Virginia Gruwell of Huntington Beach was planning her 25th wedding anniversary trip to Europe this summer and became frustrated when she could not find a low-fare carrier for travel between Nice, France, to Florence, Italy. Her options weren\'t looking attractive.

The train is 11 to 12 hours long, Air Italia is almost $450, one way, she said in an e-mail to The Times. We can\'t afford the $450-$500 airfare and don\'t want … the long train ride.

After looking at FlyCheapo.com, she decided to buy a round-trip ticket from Nice to Florence and use only the first leg. This saved her more than $200. Often, a round-trip is less expensive than a one-way, though the airlines frown on travelers doing this.

If your travel budget includes plans for low-fare carriers in Europe, check to see which airlines serve which destinations. FlyCheapo.com and http://www.whichbudget.com provide tools to find which — if any — of the myriad low-fare carriers serve the destinations you have in mind.

But flying on some of these airlines comes with the risk that they might not be flying that route or even be in business when you get there.

The routes change a lot, said Tom Betts, editor and founder of FlyCheapo.com, which has been around three years. They have quite a low profit margin, so if a route isn\'t profitable, they can cut it without much warning.

And although many of the airlines are large and well-funded, some of the smaller ones might not be quite as stable.

FlyCheapo.com lists 20 low-fare carriers that are no longer flying, but Betts notes that many were in business for only a few months.

The European low-cost industry is so fierce and competitive, Betts said. The smaller airlines are a bit riskier from the flier\'s perspective.

The best way to keep from losing money if an airline goes under is to purchase your ticket with a credit card, said Martino Matijevic, managing director and founder of WhichBudget .com. In February, his website is launching an airline comparison chart to help travelers familiarize themselves with European low-fare carriers.

The chart is for an American who has no idea what a Wizz Air is, he said. (Wizz Air is a Polish low-fare carrier.) It will include information such as safety record, what year the airline started flying, seat pitch and luggage policy. That last item is important because low-fare carriers increasingly are charging to check bags.

Travelers can investigate some of that information by going to the carrier\'s website, though Matijevic notes that this information is no guarantee of an airline\'s financial health.

If a traveler is stranded by a bankrupt low-fare carrier, competitors sometimes will offer special deals, Betts said.

The other airline will make a fuss: \'We\'ll rescue their passengers — they can fly on our airline for 10 pounds,\' Betts said.

And if all else fails, European trains can still get travelers from Point A to Point B relatively cheaply, if less quickly.